Overview

Students are eligible to graduate upon satisfactorily completing all the academic requirements of their degree program as specified by their major department.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines on how to verify that students have successfully completed all graduation requirements.

Scope

This policy applies to all awards granted at the University.

Policy:

• A student graduates after successfully completing all graduation requirements according to the degree plan, provided that his/her cumulative GPA is not less than a pass. If the student has passed the required courses but his/her cumulative GPA is low, the College Council, on the basis of the recommendations of the council of the department concerned, is entitled to specify the appropriate courses that the student must complete in order to improve his/her GPA.
• The student must follow the degree plan for his/her major and complete all the requirements before graduation.
• The Admission and Registration Deanship provides the department concerned with copies of the academic records of all candidates for graduation. The department reviews all the academic records to ensure that students have completed all graduation requirements. The department then gives a list of the students who are qualified for graduation to the Admission and Registration Deanship.
• To be eligible for graduation, the student must have earned a cumulative and major GPA of 2.00 or higher.
• If a student’s cumulative GPA is lower than that required for graduation, the student may request his/her cumulative GPA be recalculated, provided he/she has successfully completed all the courses required for obtaining the degree. This is based on the recommendation of the departmental council, in coordination with the Admission and Registration Deanship and the approval of the College Council, provided that the new GPA does not exceed 2.00 (out of 4.00) after recalculation.

The rules governing the recalculation of the cumulative GPA are as follows:

• To exclude a grade earned previously in any completed course, the student must have repeated the course successfully and earned a grade of D or higher.
• The grades F, DN, WF, D and D+ may be excluded by subtracting the number of a course credits from the total number of credits used to calculate the student’s cumulative GPA, and then subtracting the quality points assigned to these credits from the total quality points used to calculate the student’s cumulative GPA.
• The total number of course credits to be excluded when calculating the cumulative GPA must not exceed 24 credits.
• The academic record must include all grades earned by the student in the studied courses and the grade earned on each occasion. The courses that have been excluded from the calculation of the GPA are to be identified by a special mark in the academic record. The cumulative GPA, after excluding the grades of the repeated courses, must be clearly indicated.
• No changes to academic records are allowed under any circumstances after the graduation documents have been issued.
• The rules for the cumulative GPA recalculation apply to courses that a student has repeated at Prince Sultan University.
• The cumulative GPA should not exceed 2.00 (out of 4.00) after exclusion of certain grades and recalculation.
• To be awarded an academic degree from PSU, the student must have studied a minimum of 36 credit hours, including at least 18 credit hours in his/her major.
• The Admission and Registration Deanship has to thoroughly review all students’ records to ensure that all graduation requirements are satisfied.
• The Admission and Registration Deanship submits a report to the University Council by the end of each semester that includes the names of all students expected to graduate.
• The Admission and Registration Deanship submits a report to the University Council that includes the names of all students who have completed all graduation requirements and actually graduated.
• A graduating student must obtain a clearance form from the Student Affairs Deanship and have it signed by the following departments: Central Library, Security, Medical Center, Academic Major Department, Student Affairs, Admission and Registration Deanship, Accounting, and any other departments specified by the University administration.
• The Admission and Registration Deanship prepares and issues official documents and certificates for graduates and keep copies of them.
• The financial rules and regulations must be observed.
• Students who joined PSU in the academic years 1999, 2000, or 2001 are eligible to graduate when they earn a cumulative GPA of at least 1.5, in addition to all other requirements. The GPA recalculation rule is not applicable to these students.
• The general grade assigned to the cumulative GPA at the time of the student’s graduation is based on his/her cumulative GPA and calculated as follows:
1. Excellent—if the cumulative GPA is no less than 4.50 out of 5.00, or 3.50 out of 4.0.
2. Very good—if the cumulative GPA is 3.75 or higher but less than 4.50 (out of 5.00), or 2.75 or higher but less than 3.50 (out of 4.00)
3. Good—if the cumulative GPA is 2.75 or higher but less than 3.75 (out of 5.00), or 1.75 or higher but less than 2.75 (out of 4.00).
4. Pass—if the cumulative GPA is 2.00 or higher but less than 2.75 (out of 5.00), or 1.00 or higher but less than 1.75 (out of 4.00).
• First honors are granted to the student who has earned a cumulative GPA between 4.75 and 5.00 (out of 5.00) or between 3.75 and 4.00 (out of 4.00) at the time of his/her graduation. Second honors are granted to the student who has earned a cumulative GPA of 4.25 or higher but less than 4.75 (out of 5.00), or 3.25 or higher but less than 3.75 (out of 4.00) at the time of his/her graduation.
• The student who is eligible for first or second honors must also meet the following criteria:
1. He/She must not have failed any course completed at the University or any other university.
2. He/She must have completed all graduation requirements within a specified period, the maximum of which is the average of the maximum and minimum limits for completing his/her degree program.
3. He/She must have completed 60 percent or more of the graduation requirements at the university from which he/she is graduating.
• Third honors are granted at the time of graduation to the student who has earned a cumulative GPA of more than 3.00 (out of 4.00), and to whom the conditions for being awarded first or second honors do not apply. The student, however, must fulfill the terms of paragraphs (b) and (c) stated above.
• At the end of each semester, the Admission and Registration Deanship includes the names of distinguished students on the University distinction list on the basis of students’ semester GPAs and the quality points earned in that semester, as follows:
• First Distinction rank—semester GPA of 3.75–4.00; quality points of 60 or above.
• Second Distinction rank—semester GPA of 3.50–3.74; quality points of 56 or above.
• Third Distinction rank—semester GPA of 3.00–3.49; quality points of 48 or above.
• A student earns the rank of “Excellent” for an academic year if he/she is granted one of the distinction ranks in both the first and second semesters of the same year.